The TYRANNY of the ideal image of beauty!!

So I was asked to watch this video for a class, so I am posting a trailor to the video, it is called "Killing Us Softly 4" by Jean Kilbourn. I wanted to see what you ladies think of this, how the media makes you feel, how it has affected your weight loss journey, or you before you weight loss began, or even how you set your own goals.

I've been so stunned lately by the size of models on sites I shop or browse. Even if i ever make my goal weight or goal size of 6, I can never achieve that ideal of beauty. I'm too tall and broad, and I have large natural girlies. I don't think many girls can, it doesn't even look natural or attractive to be like 60lbs and 5'10 like the models I see. Some of them model clothes sideways and its like their waists aren't even there anymore. Its so sad and depressing to see all these girls that are my age or younger starving themselves to get something thats only created in photoshop.

Yeah, I will never be any type of ideal: I'll never be thin AND I'll never be curvy, so I'm too fat for the thin girls and too flat for the Real-Woman party. We just have to aim to be Healthy and trust that whoever sees our bodies (besides ourselves, of course ) love us enough to love our bodies too.

That was a very insightful video. I hope all females are able to realize that there is no ideal body image. Everyone is different because our bodies are not identical. This has always been my motivation to maintain my 5'5" 136 lbs frame. I love my body so much and do not wish to succumb to the idolized body looks.

While I hate to see adverts in which women's bodies are portrayed as objects (I literally gasped out loud at the "woman as scissors" image) I can't see anything wrong with an image of a women in lingerie to sell lingerie. Clearly, it's inappropriate to use an image of a lingerie-clad woman to sell beer to men (because the woman is taken out of context and presented as an object) but there's nothing wrong with using the same image to market lingerie to women.

In advertising and the broader media, context and intent are everything. Often the people behind campaigns intended to create more positive media portrayals of women are doing themselves a disservice by casting their net too wide.

It's widely known how airbrushed models are in their photos, but videos like this are always eye opening.

Does anyone feel that some people dont understand the extremes that models go through to be thin, and that photos are photoshopped and women don't really look like that? I am really specifically referring to men. Has anyone ever felt pressured to look like this "ideal" by someone other than themselves? I once had a boyfriend in my early 20s who I felt didn't understand that supermodels don't even look like supermodels.

Wow, thank you for sharing this video. I've been struggling with my weight for as long as I can remember. I have this idea in my head that I have to be 120 pounds. I'm far, far, from that, but that was my overall goal when I started my weight loss journey. I know now, that not only is 120 unrealistic for my height and body shape, but it's OK not to be that thin. I've updated my weight loss tracker and changed my goals. I would still like to be a healthy weight somewhere in the 100 range, but I'll be happy just to lose 100 pounds and get down to 220. There's nothing wrong with being plus sized, as long as you're healthy. Thank you again for sharing this link. It has really opened my eyes.

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Mini Goals:
See the 200's
See the 100's
Get out of the plus sizes
Overall goal weight of 150
Able to jog an entire mile

If you donít like something, change it. If you canít change it, change your attitude.

Put it into a larger context and people see that decorating selves has been a human thing for ages, and WHAT we find beautiful is as varied as people themselves are.

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I wanted to see what you ladies think of this, how the media makes you feel, how it has affected your weight loss journey, or you before you weight loss began, or even how you set your own goals.

Even when young I was not all that into pop culture. TV, media -- hohum. But since the teens and 20's youth culture is heavily into it, it's a lonely thing not to participate in it when you yourself are young.

When I was losing weight in my 20's BEFORE my dx, I found it frustrating to have to wade through so much of it trying to seek sane information about nutrition, health, etc. I knew something was wrong with me but a 14 day diet from a mag wasn't going to solve it! So was being student broke all the time. No health ins meant no dx! So for me it was frustration. It was early days of the Internet yet, so seeking info that way was not esp good yet.

I did what I could with what a had but a lot of it was treading water, and frankly? When it is significant weight gain from a condition, listening to friends go on about 20lbs or less from the "freshman 15" in college gets ooooold.

So does listening to body bashing as female bonding ritual. Blaaah.

Now that I have a full dx, and I'm a married 30's with a kid... it's a different scene. I have more money so I can spend it on better food, workout clothes, gym membership, seeing my endoc as often as I need to, etc. I also have more knowledge about what is WITH me, so I can better seek out answers. If you don't know you are hypothyroid, how do you look support info up? Ditto PCOS/IR? I don't have to spend ages at the library trying to find the unfindable. Google is my friend. LOL.

Peers are better too. My friends are wider in age range and hearing perspectives from elders is refreshing. More likely to be concerned about their bodies from fitness and health perspectives rather than body image issues. Most have made peace with looking like themselves and are happy in themselves.

Today I was talking to a 90 yr old telling me about her chair exercise class at her new retirement living complex and how she's liking it. This is a woman who is NINETY. Ok, a bit stooped in her walk, but she walks! She volunteers in the community, attends protests (riding in a shaded truck with umbrella, hat and long sleeves, no longer marching with a sign in the sun because she has sun concerns), is planning a carribean cruise... So she adapts for her age. Fine. But she does whatever she dang wants when she wants! Go her! I doubt she's listening to what media tells her what 90 yr old are "supposed" to be doing.

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I once had a boyfriend in my early 20s who I felt didn't understand that supermodels don't even look like supermodels.

When teens and 20's have little experience in dating or living with someone, their expectations/outlook in dating partners is colored a bit too much by media and not enough by real life experience. They come down to earth eventually.

What amazes me is any one person feeling they have the right to define "beauty" or how another person should look. That's just... I don't know the word for it... but very disappointing in the human race in general.

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Just because I can't see my feet does NOT mean I'm fat. <- what works for me!

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